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Archives for 2009

11 Reasons I'm Thankful to Live in Downtown Austin

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I’m thankful for many things in my life.  I have a wonderful family, great friends, and I am in good health.  But this blog is about living in Downtown Austin, so I’m not going to bore you with all that mushy stuff; I’m going to talk about Downtown Austin and my top eleven (everybody does top 10, which is soooo Letterman, if you ask me) reasons I’m thankful for living here as opposed to other places.

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The Driskill Hotel, 604 Brazos St

11.  I am thankful for our historic buildings, which give our city character and roots.

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Photo courtesy of Ken Cobb

10. I am thankful for people watching and the fact that downtown Austin is a place where people want to be.

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My Yard Before I Moved Downtown. Just Kidding.

9. I am thankful for the lack of yard work, because I suck at it and I hate it.

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8. I am thankful for the feeling of neighborhood and comradery. Downtown Austin has a small town atmosphere, where people know each other. I run into several people I know throughout the course of my day, and it’s always a pick-me-up to share a wave or have a quick chat with a neighbor.

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7. I am thankful for cool boutiques, where I can buy things like glow-in-the-dark jellyfish.

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6. I am thankful for the availability of unique living spaces with high ceilings and huge windows.

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5. I am thankful for relative carless convenience.

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4. I am thankful for The Ritz, and being able to order a vodka tonic while doing a Michael Jackson sing-a-long with 10 of my closest girlfriends.

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3. I am thankful for Town Lake/Ladybird Lake.

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2. I am thankful for a reserved parking spot, which means I don’t have to find (or pay for) parking during South by Southwest.

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1.  I am thankful for the nearby concentration and variety of services like restaurants, theaters, art galleries, coffee houses, bakeries, neighborhood stores, the library, and art museums. (To search a neighborhood directory click here.)

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Happy Turkey Day, everybody!

The December Discount

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I’m sympathetic with contrarian investing practices.  You’ve likely heard that, in the real estate market, spring and summer are the “buying” seasons.  If that’s true, then there is an economic case for improving your purchasing power during the non-buying seasons.

Taking a two mile radius from downtown Austin, we show the average-discount-from-list-price ratio of sale price to list price (subtract from 1 to get the discount) for real estate sold in June and December. The data is obtained from the MLS and goes back to 2004.  On average, since 2005, you can buy central Austin property for less in December than you can in June.  Last year if you purchased in December then you saved an additional 3% from asking price.

I call it the “December Discount”.

This chart affirms, at least in part, that in recent years buyers purchasing in the “off season” are getting slightly better deals than buyers in spring and summer.  Since 2005 you can see the December Discount increasing with each year.  With the FHA loans currently filling a void in the credit markets, and a tax incentive bringing more buyers to the table, this year we might not see a continued divergence beyond 3%.

Downtown Austin Open Houses

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(Looking for this week’s open houses? You’ll find them here.)

downtown-austin-open-house

Open houses in downtown Austin for Sunday, November 22nd

The great thing about downtown Austin open houses is that you can generally walk from building to building. Take a stroll downtown now that summer is over and the temperature is cooler. If you’re into adaptive reuses of older buildings, checkout DAB’s list of downtown Austin lofts. Looking for FHA approved condos? We’ve got the info here.

This weekend you can browse at your own pace at the Milago (btw, have you visited Rainey Street recently?), Spring, and the Austonian sales center.  While you’re here, checkout DAB’s gift suggestions found on 2nd Street.

Sunday
1) 54 Rainey St #1014, 2bd, 2ba, $469,000, 1-4pm [Housepad] map
2) 300 Bowie St, Spring sales center, model units, 1-5pm map website
3) 200 Congress Ave, Austonian sales center located at 300 W 6th, 12-5pm map website

Don’t see the properties you’re interested in? Ask a Realtor who lives and works in downtown Austin.

Downtown Austin Condos Dwindling: Video

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We don’t watch much TV, so we missed this KXAN piece highlighting the potential shortage of new downtown Austin condos.  The report claims 408.  Downtown Austin Blog’s count is 475.  I deal in downtown condos everyday, and this report is a little misleading.  Reports like this ignore the approximately 175 downtown resales currently available for sale.  Still, it’s very encouraging to receive some positive press reflecting the vibrancy of downtown.

Thanks to the Jdawgboy at SkyscraperPage forums for the heads up!

-Jude